--> ABSTRACT: Data Base Management for Sedimentary Depositional Systems: Expert System Approach, by Glenn S. Visher and Peter G. Sutterlin; #91022 (1989)

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Data Base Management for Sedimentary Depositional Systems: Expert System Approach

Glenn S. Visher, Peter G. Sutterlin

A realistic goal of sedimentologists is to be able to determine the depositional origin for stratigraphic sequences. Detailed analysis of Holocene depositional processes has provided the observational base for inferring the depositional origin for ancient stratigraphic units. Single response criteria do not exist to uniquely identify a depositional system. The synthesis of many hundreds of response characteristics requires the organization of a data base that can be readily accessed for comparison. Artificial intelligence--specifically, expert systems--is structured so that relative importance and percentage confidence can be incorporated into the data base. The user can interact with response patterns most commonly associated with each depositional system to determine th likelihood of a specific interpretation.

The data base requires the careful analysis of physical, chemical, and biologic processes from Holocene depositional systems to determine the probability for the development of specific response patterns. The value of the expert system approach is that response characteristics can be easily adjusted to fit changed tectonic, biologic, or climatic conditions. Since the data base is multivariant, differing types and patterns of response characteristics are available to identify the origin of uninterpreted stratigraphic intervals. It is possible to use differing characteristics from seismic, petrophysical logs, and sample logs to provide the unique interpretation of a depositional system. Detailed core, outcrop, paleontologic, grain-size distribution, or geochemistry data may be needed on y to confirm the interpretation. The economic value of this analysis is in the prediction of the geometry of depositional units, sequences, and intervals prior to extensive drilling.

AAPG Search and Discovery Article #91022©1989 AAPG Annual Convention, April 23-26, 1989, San Antonio, Texas.